Means for safely conducting electric currents.



110. 760,740. P'ATENTED MAY 24', 1904.

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i1 UNITED Patented May 24, 1904,]

PATENT" Q'FFICE."

' EDWARD A. -JARvIs-; oF IPOiRTRICHMONDaNEW Yoa ip f MEAN-S F RJSAFELYoo'uouoiime EL orR|o CURRENTST.

SPECIFICATION fqrmirfg part of Letters Patent No. "760,740, dated. m y24, 1904. p v

' Application filed December-l6, 1903. Serial F0. 185,433. (No model.) i

. Be it known thatI, EDWARD A. JAavIs,a'citizen of the UnitedSta-tes,-and aresident of'Port following is a specification.

Richmond, in the county of Richmond and Stateof New York, haveinventedcertain new and useful lmprovements inMeans for SafelyConductingElectric Currents, of which the The object of-this inventionis to provide a means whereby high-potential electric cur- I rents canbe conveyed along a public highway with'safety to life, also to cheapenthe construction of electric railroads by doing awaywith the undergroundconduit, this means being an insulated conductor with special means fordrawing the currentfrom the-conductor as acar or trainproceeds, it beingequally well fication, Figure 1 is a cross-section taken on a line a aof F1g. 2 and lllustrates anelectrlcal f conductor incased in a conduitof'non-cond'uct ing material; and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sec; tion ofaportion of a rail,showing the arrange ment of the armatures, '&c.-Fig.3 illustrates f the rail in combination with acontact-shoe of thecommon type, a magnet and motor circu1t b61Ilg\1nCl11(16d,-a.lSO-showing someof the armatures in contact. Fig. 4: isan end view" of Fig.3; Fig; 5 illustrates 'the invention as applied to a metalrail,and-Fi'g. "6 is a per-' spective-viewof the general appearance of afinished rail. Fig. 7 is a modification and illustrates how the devicemay be applied to a contact-rail, already in place. Fig. 8 illu'stratesa filler for the modification shown'in Fig.7. a

- Referring to=Fig. '1 and considering it as but oneof many ways inwhich the invention can be constructed,'2 represents a rail orstringpiece of-non-conducting material, such as wood,

- formed of one or more pieces. Longitudinally and preferably" in thecenter of the rail 2 is a slot or conduit 3, which carries an electricalconductor; 4, which may be'of any desired shape or conducting material.Transversely of the rail 2 are-cut'a desired number of slots i matures6, of suitable matei-iaL-having flat of keeping'thearmatures out ofcontact from transverse movement a block of non-conductthe' slotsf5, theblock to be slightly less in fwidth than the distance between the legsofthe armatures 6. i

matures'is somewhat longer than the leg 9, the-purpose of this beingtoiinsure good contact, for the following reason: When the armature ispulled up by the magnet, thelonger leg will contact first. The shorterleg will coni tin'ue to move until arrested by the contactbetween'thearmature and primary conductor.

; Thispull wi-ll have theetfe'ct of givinga good contact. Uponthe top oftheraihconductors I 10 are fastened, the word 5 top being-used'asdescriptive of the'view only.- These conductors freceive the currentfrom the primary conductor t through the armatures 6. l By'referring'toFig. 2 it will be seen that the conductors f 10 are insulatedfrom each other at11,-this being 1 for the purpose of preventing thewhole systern from being charged when contact ismade through thearmatures, which would occur if the'conductor was a continuous strip. Bythis means only those sections which are within the scope of thecontact-shoe are charged, as will appear hereinafter To still furtherinsulate the'conductor 4, strips 12, of non-conducting 1 ma'teriaLca'nbe applied to the sides of the rail 2, thereby covering the slots 5. Thesections 10 may be of anydesiredlength and any desired number-ofarmatures. may be employed.

For the purpose of operatingthe'armatures '6 a magnetic contacting shoe13, Fig. 3, is employed, the said shoe being included in a{motor-circuit 14-, the said motor-circuit hav- Eing connected theretoan electromagnet 15 ofthe horseshoe type, although any other type maybe'used. The core 16 of the magnet is i fastened to the shoe, and thebobbins 17 17 encircle the core,- as' is common. The contactshoe ispreferably a permanent magnet for reasons to be hereinafter explained.

"It will be noticed that the leg 8 of the ar ing material 7 may beinserted in the top of As is illustrated by Fig. 3, the magnet is inparallel with the motor-circuit, this being for the purpose of keepingthe shoe magnet: lzed when the power is shut off from the motor. Asconnecting in parallel is well understood, further explanation is deemedsuperfluous. The ground 18 represents the returnclrcuit.

in Fig. 5 a sectional metal rail 20 is shown as having aconduit or slot21-therein, thesaidconduit being insulated at 22, if desired, andcontalning a conductor 23,supported free from contact by insulators 2 1,armatures 25 acting, as the armature 6 of Fig. 1, to convey current tothe secondary conductor 26, which is in sect1OI 1S, 3.S 1n Fig. 2. Thesame general descriptlon applies to Figs. 1 and 5.

Fig. illustrates a rail 27, insulated by nonconducting material 28, thesaid material carrying a secondary contact 29 in sections, the armature30 being somewhat different from the armatures 6 and 25. Upon the top ofthe rall a slotted non-conductor 33 may be placed, Flg. 8, in whichslots the leg 31 of the armature 30 rests. The leg 31 is shown astapered, with the base 32 of the taper comparatively close to thesections 29. Normally the armature 3O"will be out of contact with theconductors, the length of the leg 31 being suitable for this purpose, asillustrated.

W hen the armature is pulled up, the base 32 of the leg 31 will contactfirst, acting as afulcrum for the leg 31, which by continuedmovementwilltend to throw the leg 32 against the rail 27 ,th erebygetting a firm contact. The action of the device, briefly,'is asfollows: As the car moves and the contact-shoe 13 proceeds the armatureswill be pulled up by magnetic attraction, thereby closing the circuitbetween the primary conductor and the secondary. I

Those armatures over which the shoe is only Wlll be attracted. Theothers will be down. Thus. not more than two sections will be alive .ata time andthose being the ones with which the shoe is contacting, itbeing understood that the current whichis shunted through the magnet 15supplies the power to obtain this attraction. When the power is shut offforthe' purpose of a stop, there will be current still in themagnet-circuit, which will hold up those armatures over which it is.Conse quently when power is needed again it is.

available. The purpose of having the contact-shoe a permanent magnet isapparent, as

in the event of, the shutting off of the power at the power-house therewould be no current in the magnet-circuit and it would be imposs ble tohold up the armatures; but up to the time of the cessation of power someof the armatures would be in contact, and after the current had gone thepermanent magnet would exert enough force to hold the armatures, therebyinsuring current for the motor n needed.

It will be readily conceded that those sectlons with which the shoecontacts temporarily become part of the magnet. The size of thearmatures will be suitable for conduction and weight sufiicient toinsure their dropping as the shoe leaves them,

It is apparent from the foregoing that the rail is harmless to life, asit is impossible to get current without a powerful magnet. Therefore itis possible to lay the rail in a street and upon the surface thereof.

For the sake of clearness it may here be stated that the shoe 13, whichis a permanent magnet, does not act to the detriment of theelectromagnet 15 to the same extent as a nonmagnetized shoe would, as inthe latter case a dead magnetic short circuit would result. Furthermore,the extent of the short circuit, even in the case of a non-magnetizedshoe, would be dependent upon the amount of material lying between thetwo poles in proportion to the magnetic strength. As an illustration, ifan iron wire was placed to connect the two poles the short circuit wouldhardly be noticed, while an iron bar, if large, would cause a dead shortcircuit. If the connectingstrip be a permanent magnet, as in this case,the-action of the electromagnet would be to increase the strength of thepermanent magnet, due to the fact that the shoe was already charged andexerting at all times the same magnetic field that the electromagnetwould impart to it, but not of the same strength. That a permanentmagnet loses it strength shortly after the cessation of magneticinfluence is well known. In other words, it will not retain all of themagnetism imparted to it, and if a more powerful magnet is brought incontact with it its strength is increased during the period of contact.Such is the object of the hereinbefore-described combination.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to cover byLetters Patent,

1. The combination of a primary conductor, a secondary conductorinsulated therefrom, a motor-circuit, a collecting means contacting thesecondary conductor, the said collecting means consisting of a permanentmagnet, an electro horseshoe-magnet having both poles supported by thepermanent magnet, the electromagnet being connected in parallel with themotor-circuit, together with means acted upon by the magnets wherebycurrent can be conveyed from the primary to the secondary conductorthence tothc motor-circuit through the collecting means.

2. The combination of a primary conductor and a secondary conductorinsulated therefrom, of means adapted to close the circuit between thetwo conductors, together with magnetic means acting to operate thecircuitclosing means, the said magnetic means consisting of a permanentmagnet having attached p of the said electromagnet.

thereto both poles of an electro horseshoemagnet whereby the permanentmagnet isstrengthened during the period of excitement 3. As a source ofmagnetic energy, the combination of a permanent magnet, and an electrohorsesh oe-magnet the said permanent magnet supporting bothpoles of thesaid horseshoe-magnet, whereby the permanent magnet

